Who We Are

St. Clement's Community

Saint Clement's Church is a faithful Christian community of faithful folks striving to follow Jesus and be his heart, hands, feet and at times voice in our world. The reason the Church exists is so that others in our community might have the opportunity to hear the Good News and enter into a live-giving and transformative relationship with Christ and his Community. The Good News is: that God has reconciled all things in Christ; all are loved unconditionally, with no strings attached, no matter who, what or why they are; there is nothing to fear; you can’t do anything so horrendous that God will stop loving you. Period. Seeing lives transformed into the image of God is different in intensity and experience for each person. This occurs by the knowledge and experience of being loved for who one is, not who s/he is “supposed” to be. What those transformations look like depend on the person and her/his history and life experience so far. It is a process of welcoming modern day disciples of Jesus into community with other disciples.

Episcopalians in general and St. Clement's in particular are not fundamentalist or evangelical - but then neither was the Church until the late Victorian Age. We value scientific inquiry, intellectual curiosity, and questioning of long held beliefs as well as authority. While we hold the Bible in the highest of esteem, we do not take it literally but as metaphor and allegory which was the intention of the writers - whom we believe wrote the Bible, not God. We also see the Bible as the record of a particular peoples' experience of the Divine. We also hold the Sacred Tradition of the Church in the highest of esteem as well as Reason - the God-given ability to think, doubt, question and learn. We discourage folks from leaving their brains at the door. Read more about what we believe.

Saint Clement of Rome is an Episcopal Church established in 1891. We are located in the Mount Baker neighborhood of the City of Seattle and are part of the Diocese of Olympia, the Episcopal Church in Western Washington. (Read more about St. Clement's History) We are an Anglo-Catholic parish. (Learn more about Anglo-Catholicism on our What is Anglo-Catholic? page) While a mixed ethnic Parish, we celebrate our African-American heritage honoring both present members and those who have gone before us. Our Community is made up of those African, European and Asian American descent. St. Clement's membership also includes a significant number from the LGBTQ community who are active in EVERY part of Parish life. We also more than welcome straight white people too! We strive always to be a loving, welcoming, and inclusive community working for Justice and Peace among all people and respecting the dignity of every living being to engender faith in the love of Christ who taught that there are NO outcasts in the Kingdom of God.